THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA American Poetry at Mid-Century: Warren, Jarrell, and Lowell A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of English School of Arts and Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Joan Romano Shifflett Washington, D.C. 2013 American Poetry at Mid-Century: Warren, Jarrell, and Lowell Joan Romano Shifflett, Ph.D. Director: Ernest Suarez, Ph.D. This dissertation explores the artistic and personal connections between three writers who helped change American poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Randall Jarrell, and Robert Lowell. All three poets maintained a close working relationship throughout their careers, particularly as they experimented with looser poetic forms and more personal poetry in the fifties and after. Various studies have explored their careers within sundry contexts, but no sustained examination of their relationships with one another exists. In focusing on literary history and aesthetics, this study develops an historical narrative that includes close-readings of primary texts within a variety of contexts. Established views of formalism, high modernism, and the New Criticism are interwoven into the study as tools for examining poetic structure within selected poems. Contexts concerning current criticism on these authors are also interlaced throughout the study and discussed in relation to particular historical and aesthetic issues. Having closely scrutinized the personal exchanges and creative output of all three poets, this study illuminates the significance of these writers’ relationships to American poetry at mid- century and beyond. Though the more experimental schools of poetry would not reach their height until the 1950s, by the 1940s Warren, Jarrell, and Lowell were already searching for a new aesthetic. With friendships strong, correspondences frequent, and critical attention to one another’s work constant throughout this decade, their poetry shifted in similar ways, both in content and style, by no coincidence. Ultimately, Warren, Jarrell, and Lowell purposely amended the formalist and high modernist aesthetics of their mentors in order to create poetry that engaged in an authentic exploration of selfhood within the real-life contexts of the post-World War II era. This project joins several recent critical works that fray the edges of hard-drawn boundaries that have become generally accepted truths about American literature. Despite the fact that these three artists enjoyed and benefited professionally from life-long, well-documented literary relationships with one another, previous histories have discouraged scholars from investigating these connections. As a case study, this dissertation points to a need to widen and reevaluate the current views of American poetry in the second half of the twentieth-century so that we may more fully grasp the complexities and origins of contemporary poetry and forge a better understanding of American verse traditions. This dissertation by Joan Romano Shifflett fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in English Language and Literature approved by Ernest Suarez, Ph.D., as Director, and by Glen Johnson, Ph.D., and Charlotte Beck, Ph.D. as Readers. _________________________ Ernest Suarez, Ph.D., Director _________________________ Glen Johnson, Ph.D., Reader _________________________ Charlotte Beck, Ph.D., Reader ii For Nathan A. Shifflett, a true Renaissance man iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents……………………………………………………. iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………….. v Chapter One: The Early Years………………………………………. 1 Chapter Two: The Mid-Century Shift……………………………...... 50 Chapter Three: Robert Penn Warren………………………………… 107 Chapter Four: Randall Jarrell………………………………………… 163 Chapter Five: Robert Lowell…………………………………………. 207 Afterword…………………………………………………………….. 262 Appendix: Time Line………………………………………………… 267 Bibliography………………………………………………………….. 275 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the following people for their support, encouragement, and guidance towards my growth as a scholar. I would like to thank the faculty of the CUA English department as a whole for nurturing my passion for literature while also demanding and ensuring a high level of intellectual rigor and professional development throughout my studies. Thank you, Dr. Anca Nemoianu, in particular: without your unwavering support, wise advice, and unfailing sense of humor, I am quite sure I would not have made it to this point. Also, thank you, Dr. Pamela Ward, for not only honing my pedagogical skills, but also for teaching me invaluable lessons on leadership and administration. I add special thanks for my dissertation committee, Dr. Glen Johnson, Dr. Charlotte Beck, and my Director, Dr. Ernest Suarez. Dr. Johnson: I sincerely appreciate your insight and valuable suggestions throughout the trajectory of this project. Your constructive criticism has pushed me towards a clearer and fuller articulation of my arguments. Charlotte, my “staunch supporter”: considering that your book, The Fugitive Legacy, partly inspired my dissertation project, I never dreamed I would have the honor of benefiting from your direct role in the development of my ideas. Since meeting you at the RPW Circle Meeting in 2009, my respect and admiration for you as a scholar and as a human being have continued to grow exponentially. Thank you for your generous and valuable attention to my work. I look forward to continued discussions on our mutually beloved authors once this project is complete. Ernie: words fail me as I attempt to articulate the depth of my gratitude for your indispensible role in my graduate studies. As my Director, your expertise has been essential for the conceptualization and completion of this dissertation; furthermore, your willingness to consider my work so thoughtfully and carefully has moved me beyond words. As my mentor, you serve as an example of the scholar, professor, and administrator that I will strive to be. I recall being filled with a deep sense of pride in CUA’s English department upon reading your interview in the fall 2008 issue of Literary Matters. Your emphasis on literary history and aesthetics resonated with every fiber in my being, and from that point forward I had a clearer vision for the scholarship I wished to produce. You have continued to inspire me through your v thought-provoking courses, your continuous and influential publications, and your connections to the literary world that have brought me face-to-face with some of the most important scholars in American studies. I am indebted to you for introducing me to the fine members of the RPW Circle, to whom I express gratitude for their support and for bolstering my appreciation for Warren that you initially ignited. Most of all, Ernie, I thank you for being my greatest champion while also pushing me to produce high quality work. I would like to call on some lines from the Allman Brothers Band to express my appreciation: “Now that it’s all over and gone, somehow I just don’t feel so alone.” Thanks to your encouragement, I never felt alone in this journey; and now that this phase is ending, I am grateful for the lasting bond we have created, both personally and professionally. Finally, I would like to thank my family, the most important people in my life and my vital support system. Victoria and Robin: I am beyond grateful for the unyielding enthusiasm and motivation you have provided over the years. Christian, Anastasia, and Gemma: thank you for bringing light, love, and joy into my life, now and always. Dad: I treasure the countless ways in which our relationship has grown, and I thank you for making me believe I could achieve my goals. Mom, in your fifteen years with me, you provided more love and support than most mothers do in a lifetime. My angel, my inspiration: thank you for giving me courage and strength. To Nathan, my husband, my best friend, my voice of reason, and the love of my life: your unselfish patience and unconditional love have brought me a sense of peace I never knew existed. You, more than anyone else, have made this possible. Here’s to a lifetime of supporting each other’s hopes, dreams, and desires. Thank you. vi CHAPTER ONE: THE EARLY YEARS Chapter one establishes the three poets’ early biographical connections, including the influence of their shared Fugitive mentors, Ransom and Tate. A comparative reading of their poetry (Warren’s Thirty-Six Poems (1936) through Eleven Poems on the Same Theme (1942), Jarrell’s The Rage for the Lost Penny (1940) through Little Friend, Little Friend (1945), and Lowell’s Land of Unlikeness (1944) through Lord Weary’s Castle (1946)) establishes the trends that dominate their early work, and foregrounds the significance of the artists’ personal ties to one another. An Overview Within studies of twentieth-century American literature, there is a general awareness that Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), and Robert Lowell (1917-1977) knew one another well1; some critics have even studied them in tandem.2 Though various works 1 William Bedford Clark states in his introduction to the first volume of Warren’s letters that Warren “discovered and nurtured a new generation of major American authors that included.… Robert Lowell and Randall Jarrell” (2). Similarly, in Randall Jarrell and His Age, Stephen Burt highlights the privileged role of these relationships by noting, Jarrell “seems to have been perpetually in need of close companionship and emotional alliance … from friends like [Hannah] Arendt, Lowell, the Taylors [Peter and Eleanor], and Warren” (19). Also, Lowell’s biographer Paul Mariani (1994) provides a comprehensive account of the Lowell/Jarrell connection, while also noting that Lowell was “particularly taken with Red [Robert Penn] Warren” (92). 2 William Doreski brings Warren and Lowell into one another’s circle in his detailed study of the relationship between Lowell and Tate (1990), though Lowell is more often associated with Jarrell in studies of post-World War II poetry. Book-length examples include Bawer (1986), Meyers (1987), Travisano (1999), Burt (2002), Ferguson (2003), and Kirsch (2005).